Method for producing indicators and processing apparatus and system utilizing the indicators

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a method for producing graphical indicators and interactive systems for utilizing the graphical indicators. On the surface of an object, visually negligible graphical indicators are provided. The graphical indicators and main information, i.e. text or pictures, co-exist on the surface of object. The graphical indicators do not interfere with the main information when the perception of human eyes are concerned. With the graphical indicators, further information other than the main information on the surface of object are carried. In addition to the main information on the surface of object, one is able to obtain additional information through an auxiliary electronic device or trigger an interactive operation.

CROSS REFERENCE FOR RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/189,244filed on Jul. 2, 2002. Priority is claimed on U.S. application Ser. No.10/189,244 filed on Jul. 2, 2002, which claims the priority date ofR.O.C. Patent Application No. 091100350 filed on Jan. 11, 2002, all ofwhich is incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for producing indicators andprocessing apparatus and system utilizing the indicators, and moreparticularly, to a method, an apparatus and a system for providingadditional information from the indicators affixed onto the surface ofan object.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Dating back to ancient time, people start delivering information byrecording information on surfaces of various objects. For example, sincethe birth of paper, people acquire the information through charactersand drawings affixed on papers. Furthermore, in recent years, withdistinctive colors, characters, or pictures attached to differentlocations on surface of an object, people try to disclose theinformation with regard to each different position of the object.

When people observe the surface of object, they generally capture theinformation visually. However, the amount or types of the informationcarried by the surface of object are generally limited under therestrictions of the area size, beautification of the surface.

Nowadays, due to the advance of electronic technology, the visualinformation has been retrieved from its original carrier and stored asthe digital information in an electronic apparatus. And people read themdirectly from the electronic apparatus. However, it is difficult for thedigital information to totally replace the information printed in booksor information attached to the surface of object.

On the other hand, through hyper link approach of computer technology,the digital information can be displayed in multiple dimensions, whilethe information printed in book or attached to the object still aredisplayed in two dimensions. Thus, if multiple dimensions informationcan be recorded on the book or the object, people can acquire additionalinformation through the electronic apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for producinggraphical indicators. Some visually negligible graphical indicators areaffixed on the surface of an object. The graphical indicators co-existwith main information, such as a text or picture, on the surface ofobject, and do not interfere with the perception of human eyes to themain information. A user retrieves the graphical indicators through anelectronic system that does not couple with the object and acquiresadditional information from the graphical indicators.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus and asystem utilizing the graphical indicators. The apparatus or the systemincludes an optical-reading device, a processing device, and an outputdevice. The optical-reading device captures an image including thegraphical indicators from the surface of object, the processing device,responsive to the graphical indicators, acquires the correspondingadditional information by processing and/or transforming the graphicalindicators, and the output device outputs the additional information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1(A) is a schematic diagram illustrating the graphical indicatorson the surface of object in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1(B) is an enlarged diagram illustrating one of the graphicalindicators in FIG. 1(A);

FIG. 1(C) is a schematic diagram illustrating the combination of thegraphical micro-units in FIG. 1(B) converting into the bit array;

FIG. 1(D) is a schematic diagram illustrating the two-dimensional matrixform in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1(E) is an enlarged diagram illustrating the index zones and thegraphical indicators in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 1(F) illustrates the image corresponding to the matrix form of thegraphical indicators converted into a bit matrix form in accordance withthe present invention;

FIGS. 2(A)-2(C) are the diagrams illustrating various embodiments inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2(D) is the diagram illustrating other embodiment for thearrangement of the graphical indicators in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2(E) is the diagram illustrating the different graphical indicatorsarranged in a index zone in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic system inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart illustrating the operation of theelectronic system in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of the processing system in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the electronic apparatus inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart illustrating the operation of theelectronic apparatus in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating one practical application inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the additional informationused for controlling a response device in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the application of thepresent invention to information appliances;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating the additional informationused to control other devices;

FIG. 12(A) is a graph illustrating the conventional bar code in theprior art; and

FIG. 12(B) is a graph illustrating use of indicators of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a method for producing graphicalindicators and interactive systems for utilizing the graphicalindicators. Some visually negligible graphical indicators are affixed onthe surface of an object. The graphical indicators co-exist with a maininformation, such as a text or picture, on the surface of object, and donot interfere with the perception of human eyes to the main information.A user retrieves the graphical indicators through an electronic systemand acquires additional information from the graphical indicators. Theuser can utilize the graphical indicators without a complicated platformproviding coordinate system. Furthermore, the typical book or thesurface of object can carry more information through the graphicalindicators.

Exemplary Design for the Graphical Indicators

In the present invention, one aspect of the graphical indicators is thatthe graphical indicators are so visually negligible that do notinterfere with the main information on the surface of object. Anotheraspect of the graphical indicators is that the graphical indicators arenot interfered by the other information on the surface when theelectronic system reads the graphical indicators.

For the visually negligible feature of graphical indicator, eachgraphical indicator includes multiple graphical micro-units arranged ina layout. Shown in FIG. 1(A), which has scale of 2.5:1, the combination100 of the graphical micro-units in a background to “APPLE” is thematrix consisting of graphical micro-units. The micro-units can bereduced further such that the combination 100 of the graphicalmicro-units is visually negligible or is viewed as a background materialby human eyes.

In practical application, the shape of the graphical micro-units may beregular or irregular shape, such as a round spot. For best result, thegraphical micro-unit must be so tiny that only a microscope apparatuscan detect it.

When the graphical micro-units are tiny and arranged loosely in thelayout, the user easily neglects the combination 100 of graphicalmicro-units and pays attention to main information, like the word“APPLE” depicted in FIG. 1(A). Next, we explain how to use the graphicalindicator to carry information.

The combination 100 of the graphical micro-units consists of multiplegraphical indicators arranged in sequence. Each graphical indicatorincludes multiple state zones for selectively respectively storing thegraphical micro-units, wherein each of the state zones displays a statefrom at least two candidate states.

For example, shown in FIG. 1(B) is an enlarged diagram illustrating oneof the graphical indicators in FIG. 1(A). The graphical indicator 11includes 36 units of state zones 113 in the form of 6 by 6 matrix. Eachstate zone 113 selectively includes one graphical micro-unit or does notinclude the graphical micro-unit to represent the first or second state.

When the micro-units in state zone 113 of the first state are assignedvalue of one and those of the second state are assigned value of zero, abit matrix form 114 shown in FIG. 1(C) is resulted. Thus, the bit matrixform 114 stores a variety of information as expected or desired. Inother word, the user can store desired information based on thecombination of different values of the state zones.

Furthermore, the multiple graphical indicators, as well as the graphicalmicro-units, are arranged in two-dimension matrix forms. Sucharrangements of the graphical indicators and the graphical micro-unitslook homogenous to human eyes. Next, the present invention provides amethod for retrieving the individual graphical indicator from the matrixform of the graphical indicators.

Shown in FIG. 1(B), which has scale of 100:1, the graphical indicator 11includes a header information 111 and a content information 112 arrangedin a layout that corresponds to different indicator information. In oneembodiment, all header information 111 are identical among differentgraphical indicators 11. However, for a more comprehensive design, morethan one set of header information may be employed as long as eachheader information within each graphical indicator is capable ofdistinguishing the corresponding graphical indicator from adjacentgraphical indicators and indicating the orientation of the correspondinggraphical indicator to the optical device. On the other hand, differentvalue of content information 112 represents different indicatorinformation. Thus, one graphical indicator 11 is read through capturingone header information 111, and the graphical indicator 11 does notinterfere with each adjacent graphical indicator 11. However, in anotherembodiment, the header information 111 in one graphical indicator 11 maybe different from that of other graphical indicator 11 as long as thesystem can use the header information to retrieve the correspondingcontent information.

FIG. 1(D), which has scale of 120:1, is a schematic diagram illustratingthe two-dimensional matrix form in accordance with the presentinvention. The user first searches the header information 111 andfurther retrieves the graphical indicator 11 and the correspondingcontent information 112.

Furthermore, in order to rapidly retrieve the indicator information, theimage corresponding to the matrix form of the graphical indicators isrotated and converted into bit matrix form, shown in FIG. 1(F) duringthe process.

Furthermore, we divide the surface of object into multiple index zones.Each zone corresponds to an index value. The graphical indicatorcorresponding to identical indicator information is repeatedly arrangedin each index zone. The graphical indicator corresponding to differentindicator information is repeatedly arranged in different index zones.The system maker of the invention records the corresponding relationshipof the indicator information to the index zone in an electronicapparatus. When the electronic apparatus captures an image from a indexzone, it can acquire the index value of the zone using the correspondingrelationship.

For example, FIG. 1(E), which has scale of 20:1, is an enlarged diagramillustrating the index zones and the graphical indicators in accordancewith the present invention. The graphical indicators 11 corresponding tosame indicator information are arranged in the index zone 12. Thegraphical indicators corresponding to different indicator informationare respectively arranged in the other index zones.

Other embodiment for the graphical indicators is possible. For example,FIGS. 2(A)-2(C) are the diagrams illustrating other embodiments for thegraphical indicators in accordance with the present invention. Shown inFIGS. 2(A)-2(C), a vertical segment represents the first state, and ahorizontal segment represents the second state.

Furthermore, FIG. 2(D) is the diagram illustrating other embodiment forthe arrangement of the graphical indicators in accordance with thepresent invention. Different from the matrix arrangement in FIGS.1(A)-1(F), a cellular arrangement is set forth in FIG. 2(D).

Alternately, different graphical indicators may also be arranged in oneindex zone as shown in FIG. 2(E). The letters “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D”respectively represent four different graphical indicators correspondingto four different indicator information. These four different graphicalindicators are repeatedly arranged in sequence within one index zone,shown in FIG. 2(E).

There are requirements for the graphical indicators being negligible tohuman eyes. First, each graphical indicator must be tiny and human eyescan not differentiate one graphical indicator from others. Second,according to the size of the graphical micro-unit, the pitch betweenmicro-unit, and the desired visual effect, one should reduce the numberof the graphical micro-units used. In this way, the graphical indicatorshave little influence on the brightness of the surface of object.Furthermore, number of graphical micro-units of each graphical indicatoris substantially equal to each other, and therefore the graphicalindicators look more homogenous to human eyes and become invisible tohuman eyes.

In a first embodiment, each square centimeter of the selected zoneincludes more than 3000 state zones of which less than seventy percentare in the first state, and percentage of area occupied by the graphicalmicro-unit in the state zone is less than 80.

In a second embodiment, each square centimeter of the selected zoneincludes more than 6000 state zones of which less than seventy percentare in the first state, and percentage of area occupied by the graphicalmicro-unit in the state zone is less than 80.

The following provides the methods for capturing the graphicalindicators by an electronic system without interference with maininformation on the surface of object.

First, a method utilizing infrared ray and oil ink is illustrated below.

While printing the information on conventional media, a desired color isobtained by combining primitive color inks: cyan (C), magenta (M),yellow (Y), and black (K). Generally, hue and saturation are obtained byadjusting combination of C, Y, and M, and brightness is obtained byadjusting K.

It is noted that infrared ray has high transmittance for most of C, M, Yprimitive color inks, but has low transmittance for most of K colorinks. In other words, C, M, Y color inks hardly absorb the infrared ray,but black color ink substantially absorbs the infrared ray. Therefore,infrared ray transmits through most of C, M, Y color inks and displayshigh brightness after reflecting from a light-coloured object surfaceunder C, M, Y color inks. On the contrary, the surface that is printedin black color ink displays low brightness because of the absorption ofthe infrared ray by most of black color ink. Thus, when a detectorreceives an image corresponding to graphical indicators printed in mostof black color ink, the image does not interfere with main informationprinted in most of C, M, Y color inks.

On the other hand, when the main information needs to be printed inblack, one type of black color, in the specification we called itNear_K, which hardly absorbs infrared ray, is used to print the maininformation. Mixing C, M, Y colors under predetermined ratio makesNear_K that displays visual black, such as dark indigo or dark brown.The ratio for mixing C, M, Y colors to obtain Near_K color is well knownto the people skilled in the art. Since Near_K is made by C, M, Y colorinks, Near_K is transmittable by infrared ray. And, to cooperate withthis arrangement, the graphical indicators are printed using K (black)color.

In the above description, the black color is used for an example and,however, it is not a limitation. Other inks that can substantiallyabsorb the infrared ray can be used to print graphical indicators. Thisapproach has advantage of low cost. It is to be noted that any type ofoil ink, no matter what color it shows, that could substantially absorbinfrared ray, are suitable for the print of graphical indicator and areintended scope of protection of present application. Any types of oilink, that are transmittable by infrared and are close to black visually,i.e. some oil ink of edibility-class without carbon element, can also beused as Near-K color. Near-K color may act as role of black color offour primitive colors (C,M,Y,K) while printing the main information overthe surface.

On the other end, it is known that most oil inks absorb ultra-violent orblue light. That is, they do not produce light in visible spectrum whenirradiated by ultra-violent or blue light. However, special type ink,such as fluorescent ink, produces visual image under the irradiation ofultra-violet or blue light. Thus, under this approach, the graphicalindicators are printed in fluorescent ink, and the main information isprinted in a typical oil ink. To cope with the arrangement,ultra-violent or blue light is used to irradiate the surface of objectwhile reading the image. Afterwards, the non-interference image can beobtained by implementing an optical filter for filtering out unwantedspectrum portion.

Another method is to directly use visual light. Since there are manygraphical indicators that are not overlapped with the main information,as long as the detector detects single graphical indicator, theindicator information can be obtained.

There are more than one approaches to generate (prepare) the indicatorinformation. For example, the additional information is encoded into theindicator information by method of compressed encoding. When theelectronic system retrieves the indicator information, it acquires theadditional information by decoding the indicator information. When thisapproach is adopted, the processing device of the invention, responsiveto the graphical indicators, acquires the corresponding additionalinformation by processing (decoding) the graphical indicators.

Another way to obtain the additional information from the indicatorinformation is using a mapping unit stored in the electronic system. Theembodiments of the mapping unit include a database or a lookup table,etc. Actual implementations for the mapping unit include a hard disk, afloppy disk, a compact disk, a read-only memory, or a memory card. Theelectronic system acquires the additional information corresponding tothe indicator information through the mapping unit. When this approachis adopted, the processing device, responsive to the graphicalindicators, acquires the corresponding additional information bytransforming the graphical indicators. Furthermore, for a morecomplicated design, the processing device, responsive to the graphicalindicators, acquires the corresponding additional information byprocessing and/or transforming the graphical indicators.

Exemplary Electronic System Utilizing the Graphical Indicators

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic system 31 inaccordance with the present invention. The electronic system 31 includesan optical device 311, i.e. an image acquiring device, a processingdevice 312, i.e. an image-processing circuit, and an output device 313,i.e. an output circuit. The processing device 312 is wired or wirelesscoupled to the optical device 311. Similarly, the processing device 312is wired or wireless coupled to the output device 313.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart illustrating the operation of theelectronic system in accordance with the present invention. The opticaldevice 311 captures an image from the surface of object (step 41) thatincludes the graphical indicator. Next, the processing device 312retrieves the graphical indicator from the image (step 42) and acquiresthe additional information corresponding to the graphical indicator(step 43). The output device 313 receives the additional informationfrom the processing device 312 and outputs the additional information(step 44).

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of the processing system in accordance with thepresent invention. The main information is printed on the surface of anobject 51. The main information in the embodiment includes multipleicons 511 and corresponding illustrations 513. Such main information isgenerally used in a typical language-learning book or children-teachingbook. The object is made of plastic, paper, or any printable carriers.

In addition, the surface of object 51 includes multiple index zones onwhich respective icons 511 and illustrations 513 are affixed. Inparticular, the index zone corresponding to the icon 511 is printed withmultiple identical graphical indicators 512. To illustrate clearly, thegraphical indicator 512 is visible. But in actual practice, thegraphical indicator 512 may be so tiny as to be non-visible to humannaked eyes.

In this embodiment, the icon 511 is directly captured by human eyes 52.In addition, the electronic system 31 is used to acquire the additionalinformation corresponding to the graphical indicator 512.

As the electronic system 31 is directed to a zone to that the graphicalindicator 512 is affixed, the optical device 311 captures the imageincluding the graphical indicator 512 and transfers the image to theprocessing device 312. Then the processing device 312 retrieves thegraphical indicator 512 from the image and acquires the additionalinformation corresponding to the graphical indicator 512. In theembodiment, the additional information includes audio information, suchas pronunciations of horse in English or other visual information, suchas illustration of horse. Then the output device 313 outputs the audioinformation with a speaker 3131 and the visual information with adisplay panel 3132. In addition, other types of information sensible byhuman being, such as olfactory or tactual information, can also beoutputted.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating details of the electronicapparatus in accordance with the present invention. In the embodiment,the electronic apparatus includes an optical-reading device 61, animage-processing circuit 62, and an output circuit 63. Theoptical-reading device 61 includes one or more sensor units 611 and oneor more active light source 612. The exemplary sensor unit 611 includessensor micro-units, such as charge couple devices (CCD) or CMOS sensorunits. In the embodiment, the image-processing circuit 62 includes adigital signal processor 621 (DSP) and a read-only memory card (ROMcard) 622. The read-only memory card (ROM card) 622 functions as amapping unit.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 together illustrate the operation of embodiment. FIG.7 is a schematic flow chart illustrating the operation of the electronicapparatus in FIG. 6. The active light source 612 of the optical-readingdevice 61 irradiates active light beam 613 onto the surface of object 64(step 71). The surface of object 64 absorbs the portion of the activelight beam 613 and reflects or scatters the light. The sensor unit 611captures the scattered light 614 through subsequent lens 615 and anoptic filter 616 to form an image (step 72) and converts the image intoelectronic information (step 73).

The sensor unit 611 transfers the electronic information to theimage-processing circuit 62 for image processing purpose. Theimage-processing circuit 62 extracts the combination of the graphicalmicro-units from the electronic information (step 74). The exemplarycombination of the graphical micro-units is denoted as 100 in FIGS. 1(A)to 1(E). Next, the image-processing circuit 62 converts the combinationof the graphical micro-units into the numeral codes (step 75). Forexample, the combination of the graphical micro-units in FIG. 1(B)converts into the bit array shown in FIG. 1(C). Then theimage-processing circuit 62 retrieves the indicator informationaccording to the numeral codes (step 76) and further acquires theadditional information corresponding to the indicator information (step77). In the embodiment, the ROM card 622 stores the mapping relationshipof the indicator information and the additional information. The digitalsignal processor 621 executes the image process above-mentioned.

Next, the output circuit 63 outputs the additional information (step78). In the embodiment, the additional information is audio information.The output circuit 63 includes a speaker that outputs the audioinformation corresponding to the zone on the surface of objectirradiated by the active light source 612.

Alternatively, the read-only memory card (ROM card) 622 per se includesa built-in digital signal processor. Under this arrangement, the mappingunit, i.e. read-only memory card (ROM card) 622, retrieves additionalinformation corresponding to the indicator information responsive to thecommand from digital signal processor 621.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating one practical application inaccordance with the present invention. In the embodiment, the opticaldevice includes an input pen 81. The processing device is embedded in ageneral-purpose computer 82 and is programmable. The output deviceincludes a monitor 831 and a speaker 832. The book 80 has the graphicalindicators of the present invention at predetermined locations, and adisc 821 is accompanied with the book 80. When the user directs theinput pen 81 to the selected zone of the book 80, such as zone at which“BOOK” is printed, the optical device of the input pen 81 captures theimage of the selected zone and transfers it to the general-purposecomputer 82 run by the program in the disc 821. The general-purposecomputer 82 processes the image and acquires the additional informationunder control of the disc 821, and retrieves the additional information.The additional information includes the explanation of the graphicalindicators retrieved and the audio information. Next, the monitor 831coupled to the general-purpose computer 82 outputs an illustration 834,as well as the speaker 832 outputs the audio information.

Furthermore, the additional information may also include commands forcontrolling other interactive devices.

Application for Input of Information

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the additional informationused for controlling a responsive device in accordance with the presentinvention. The surface of object 90 includes multiple index zones, andeach index zone has one main information 9011, such as alphanumericinformation on a conventional key cap. Furthermore, one desiredgraphical indicator 9012 is affixed to the same index zone.

The optical device of an electronic system 91 captures the imageincluding the graphical indicator 9012. The processing device of theelectronic system 91 retrieves the graphical indicator 9012 from theimage and acquires the additional information corresponding to thegraphical indicator 9012. The additional information is a commandcorresponding to the main information 9011. The electronic system 91transfers the command to a response device 92. For instance, theresponse device 92 may be an audio device capable of generating sound ofcorresponding piano key. Under the same concept while altering thepatterns, the object 90 may easily become a computer keyboard orcalculator keyboard. The response device 92 may include mobile phone,personal digital assistant, notebook, and other electronic devices.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the application of thepresent invention to information appliances. An interactive television101 is equipped with a set top box 1011 for receiving user-interactivecommands. A brochure 103 provided by cable TV program supplier isdesigned to include the graphical indicator of the invention. When theuser selects one program 104 with an input device within the remoteselector 102, the input device retrieves the graphical indicator fromthe image of the program 104 and acquires the additional informationcorresponding to the graphical indicator. In the embodiment, theadditional information is a command to the set top box 1011. The outputdevice in the remote selector 102 is an infrared emitter fortransferring the command to the set top box 1011. Thus, the presentinvention provides an input solution for the interactive television 101.

Application for Control Function

Besides visual, olfactory or vibrating effects, the additionalinformation includes controlling commands. FIG. 11 is a schematicdiagram illustrating the additional information used to control otherdevices. As indicated, a response device 1001 includes puppets 10011,10012, 10013, word-line display panel 10014, and display panel 10015. Ascript book 10018 is provided to include the graphical indicatorscorresponding to the contents. The user selects the specific contentwith the electronic device 10016. For example, if the user would like tohave a sunny day displayed in the display panel 10015, he or shecaptures the corresponding graphical indicator on the script book 10018using the electronic device 10016. The electronic device 10016 retrievesthe graphical indicator and acquires the corresponding additionalinformation. The additional information is the command 10017 transmittedfor controlling the response device 1001. The electronic device 10016transfers the command 10017 to the response device 1001 through wirelessor infrared transmission. The response device 1001 displays the sunnyday on the display panel 10015 in response to the command 10017.

As the electronic device 10016 is denoted to a dialogue 10019, theelectronic device 10016 retrieves the graphical indicators correspondingto the dialogue 10019 and then acquires a command of additionalinformation. The electronic device 10016 transfers the command to theresponse device 1001 and the puppet 10012. The response device 1001displays the dialogue 10019 on the word-line display panel 10014, andthe puppet 10012 speaks dialogue when making the action.

Substitute for Bar Code

The feature of the present invention is different from conventional barcode. FIG. 12(A) is a graph illustrating the conventional bar code 10001in the prior art. FIG. 12(B) is a graph illustrating use of indicators10002, 10003 of the present invention. In one embodiment, theinformation implicitly stored in the conventional bar code 10001 is nowstored in the graphical indicator 10002 provided by the invention, andthe information of an editor or a writer is stored in the graphicalindicator 10003 provided by the invention. The graphical indicators10002, 10003 do not interfere with other main information on the surface10000.

Application for Coordinate Positioning System

This invention may be implemented into a coordinate positioning systemas index value mentioned above is a coordinate value when a coordinatesystem is predefined over the surface. Under this application, thecoordinate positioning system allows a user to make positioning actionover a surface of an object while the surface including a maininformation. The coordinate positioning system includes a coordinatesystem and a device.

The coordinate system, implemented over the surface, includes multiplecoordinate zones. Each coordinate zone includes at least a visuallynegligible graphical indicator, and the graphical indicator includesmultiple graphical micro-units co-existing with the main informationover the surface without interference with the main information. Themultiple graphical micro-units are arranged in a layout in the graphicalindicator, the layout corresponds to an indicator information indicatinga coordinate value of each coordinate zone.

The device is used for capturing the layout from the graphicalindicator, retrieving the coordinate value responsive to the layout, andproviding a response in response to the coordinate value.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device may be made while retainingthe teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure shouldbe construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appendedclaims.

1. A method for producing a graphical indicator on a surface of anobject, a user reading an image from a selected zone of the surface ofthe object with an electronic system, the electronic system retrievingthe graphical indicator and outputting an additional information fromthe graphical indicator, the method comprising: mapping an indicatorinformation to the graphical indicator that is visually negligible, thegraphical indicator comprising a plurality of state zones forselectively respectively storing a plurality of graphical micro-units,and each of the state zones selecting a state from at least twocandidate states; and affixing the graphical indicator onto the surfaceof the object.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface of theobject comprises a main information which overlaps and co-exists withthe graphical micro-units are negligible when the user observes the maininformation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein each graphical indicatoroccupies very small amount of area, and each graphical micro-unitoccupies very small amount of area, and number of graphical micro-unitsof each graphical indicator is substantially equal to each other.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each square centimeter of the selected zoneincludes more than 3000 state zones of which less than seventy percentare in the first state, and percentage of area occupied by the graphicalmicro-unit in the state zone is less than
 80. 5. The method of claim 1,wherein each square centimeter of the selected zone includes more than6000 state zones of which less than seventy percent are in the firststate, and percentage of area occupied by the graphical micro-unit inthe state zone is less than
 80. 6. The method of claim 2, wherein eachgraphical micro-unit is printed in an ink that substantially absorbsinfrared ray, and the main information is printed in an ink that hardlyabsorbs infrared ray.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the ink is ablack oil ink, and the main information is printed in a Near-K ink thatcomprises an ink hardly absorbing infrared ray.
 8. The method of claim2, wherein each graphical micro-unit is printed in a fluorescent ink,and the main information is printed in a typical oil ink.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the surface of the object comprises multiple indexzones, each index zone corresponding to one index value, and multipleidentical graphical indicators are arranged in each index zone.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the object is a printable vehicle and thegraphical indicator is affixed onto the surface of the printable vehicleby printing.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical indicatoris recorded in a vehicle that is affixed onto the surface of the object.12. The method of claim 2, wherein each graphical micro-unit is printedin the Black (K) primitive color ink, and the main information isprinted in the Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) primitive color ink, ora combination thereof.